Disclaimer to be signed on legacy receipt

Adclif

I have received an executor's account with some figures I am unhappy with.I feel intimidated as I have already spent too much time wasted in fruitless complaints.
However there is a disclaimer on this executor's account/Legacy receipt requiring a signature to receive my share.
I don't know if this is appropriate/legal.
There is an additional matter of CGT paid on the difference between the probate value which I strongly queried and the sale value of the estate property.
Been through the wringer with this.
Any thoughts/advice/information welcome.
Thanks

Yorkshireman99

Adclif wrote: »

I have received an executor's account with some figures I am unhappy with.I feel intimidated as I have already spent too much time wasted in fruitless complaints.
However there is a disclaimer on this executor's account/Legacy receipt requiring a signature to receive my share.
I don't know if this is appropriate/legal.
There is an additional matter of CGT paid on the difference between the probate value which I strongly queried and the sale value of the estate property.
Been through the wringer with this.
Any thoughts/advice/information welcome.
Thanks

Is the executor a solicitor? Are you a residuary beneficiary? Sounds like a backside covering excercise to me.

Adclif

Thanks.Yes,I'm a beneficiary.I see that it is a backside-covering manouver.Using it prevents timely scrutiny which seems a breach of 'consumer rights'or something.And at this particular junction-sign or you dont get the money.

Yorkshireman99

You have not said if the executor is a solicitor.

Adclif

Yes,the executor is a solicitor.Sorry.

antrobus

Adclif wrote: »

I have received an executor's account with some figures I am unhappy with.I feel intimidated as I have already spent too much time wasted in fruitless complaints....

What were your complaints?

Adclif wrote: »

...However there is a disclaimer on this executor's account/Legacy receipt requiring a signature to receive my share. I don't know if this is appropriate/legal..
..

Standard practice.

I, the undersigned approve the estate accounts dated [DATE OF ACCOUNTS] and HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE to have received from [YOUR NAME] the Personal Representative of the above named deceased the sum of £[ENTER AMOUNT] and acknowledge this is paid full and final satisfaction of my entitlement to the estate of [DECEASED’S NAME].

Adclif wrote: »

....There is an additional matter of CGT paid on the difference between the probate value which I strongly queried and the sale value of the estate property....

CGT may well be payable if the estate sells an assets and makes a gain.

Yorkshireman99

No problem. If the value of the property for probate was too low then the property was sold for more then CGT could become payable. It is possible to retrospectively change the probate value but strong evidence will be needed and of course it is possible this would mean the estate value crosses the IHT threshold. Probably a formal complaint to the senior partner is the next step. Perhaps a bit more detail about the dispute with solicitor would help to give any other suggestions.

Adclif

A seriously flawed POA was drawn up by a different solicitor which was repealed and this solicitor was paid.

A will and deeds was given to the above solicitor for safe-keeping[according to them],became illegible and it's origins doubted,though a witness was still living.This changed the course of the process.
This duty of care,afaik,and it's ramifications was ignored.

The above solicitor had spent a lot of time in a previous task,years before,sorting out boundaries with the Land Registry,and yet claimed money for 'sorting out boundaries' for the estate at this time.

These concerns were not addressed.The solicitor I had had to hire to communicate with the executor was equally unimpressed[it got to a point where I didn't know if if they worked for me].

Querying the probate value at the time met with stoney silence.

Yorkshireman99

Again I advise aformal complaint to the senior partner without delay.

Adclif

I have chonically fatigued myself,my wife and my family on pursuing complaints procedure.I think this is designed into them.I think the level of back-scratching is phenomenal and the risk of your[mine in this case]business becoming secondary to potential business between solicitors and solicitors and various agencies-estate agents,valuers-is very high.
They'll only see me once,but they can do ongoing business with each other well into the future-networking.
I think networking is a huge threat to the integrity of a complaints procedure.
The idea that an inhouse complaints procedure has effectiveness is a dead dog,imo.[Been there].
I have been stone-walled,selectively interpreted,given the party line-reasonable or not,patronised,excluded from being taken seriously as a first step[really increasing the dysfunctionality&futility of any interaction].
These guys will protect their own.There is no doubt of that.Right up the chain.Hedging all the way and vanishing fact,evidence,salience-the road to perdition for a complaints procedure.
This has been my experience.As depressing as it is.

Yorkshireman99

If you want to pursue a formal complaint to the Solicitor's regulator you have to exhaust the firms internal complaints procedure first. You could of course consider legal action but again the court will not be impressed if you don't exhaust other options first. The staff who handle estates will not be senior and most firms do take complaints seriously. Not all but certainly most. Have you actually referred you complaints to a senior level?